First things first. We all, each and every boxing fan out there, owe a debt of gratitude for the excellent work the folks at invaluable website BoxRec do. THE place to look for a boxer’s record, amateur or pro, BoxRec is constantly updated, with results often put on a fighter’s record mere minutes, if not seconds after he or she has fought.
Simply put, where would a fight fan be without BoxRec?
Now, on to the criticism the website has sometimes had for its rankings. The staff at BoxRec compile their rankings a little differently, with points scored for things such as an unbeaten record, for an example. Recently, a couple of years ago, BoxRec ranked Floyd Mayweather as the greatest pound-for-pound boxer ever. This pleased Mayweather but it angered a number of boxing fans. Floyd’s perfect numbers, 50-0, had a lot to do with his lofty ranking by the site.
It is in the strong opinion of many fight fans, nothing short of sacrilegious for Mayweather to be ranked above giants such as Sugar Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Henry Armstrong, Harry Greb, Sam Langford…..and the list goes on.
Which brings us to BoxRec’s recent Top 10 greatest super middleweights rankings. This Top 10 has already caused quite a stir online (shout-out to ESNews for putting up a video on the subject), and you may quickly see why.
Here is the 10 greatest-ever 168 pound boxers list from BoxRec:
1: Canelo Alvarez
2: Joe Calzaghe
3: Andre Ward
4:Carl Froch
5: Mikkel Kessler
6: Demetrius Andrade
7: Steve Collins
8: Arthur Abraham
9: Sven Ottke
10: Daniel Jacobs
Where to start? No Roy Jones Jr. No James Toney. No Sugar Ray Leonard. No Thomas Hearns. No Nigel Benn (he is ranked at #19 on the list, but we are focusing on the top 10 here). No Chris Eubank (he is listed at #13). Who else is missing and should not be? Sure, all lists are subjective, and up for debate, but Daniel Jacobs as the tenth greatest super middleweight ever? Above Jones and Toney?! No way.
A couple of other names you may feel should be placed in the top 10:
Michael Nunn. Frankie Liles.
Of course, there is only room for ten guys here, but for Toney and Jones to not be included is just wrong. But, hey, that’s just my opinion.
Agree or disagree with BoxRec’s 168 pound Top 10?